Academic interests

My main interests are in molecular fungal ecology and evolution. My PhD-project(s) are mainly focusing on the ecology of the mycorrhizal symbiosis, with a special emphasis on ectomycorrhiza in the Arctic.

Background

I did both my Bachelor of science (2011) and Master of Science (2013) degrees here at the University of Oslo. During my master I investigated host plant specificity of the ectomyccorhizal fungal community at an Arctic site.

In the present work we put focus on ectomycorrhizal Agaricales, Boletales and Russulales, all with conspicuous sporocarps, giving us an opportunity to compare the below ground ectomycorrhiza diversity with the aboveground sporocarp diversity. In the sand dune area on Lista, South-west Norway, nine plots of 3 m diameter were established in Salix repens (creeping willow) dominated vegetation; i.e. three plots on dune slacks, three plots on hummock dunes, and three plots on eroded dunes. In 2009 ectomycorrhizal Salix repens roots were sampled in each plot. Ectomycorrhizal taxa were identified by pyrosequencing. From 2008 to 2014 fungal sporocarps were collected and identified in the same plots. Of the 30 actual ectomycorrhizal taxa identified on the roots, 10 of them were also accompanied by aboveground sporocarps. In addition, 11 taxa were only recorded as sporocarps. The most frequent ectomycorrhizal taxon was Hebeloma spp, recorded in all nine plots. The most frequent taxon on species level was Cortinarius saniosus, however, only recorded on ectomycorrhizal roots while sporocarps were found outside the plots. The most frequent ectomycorrhizal species with at least one plot housing accompanied sporocarps were Cortinarius casimiri and Russula laccata. Some of the ectomycorrhizal taxa belong to the typical inventory of Salix repens dominated dune vegetation: Lactarius controversus, Russula persicina, Tricholoma cingulatum, Inocybe impexa, I. dunensis and Laccaria maritima; the two last taxa only represented by sporocarps. We conclude that a combination of sampling below ground ECM and monitoring aboveground sporocarps seems to be an optimal approach if we want to cover the diversity of conspicuous ECM fungi in an area.